Analyis of website homepages

In order for us to fulfill our brief, we will have to produce a website homepage for the band we are creating. To insure that we do this correctly we will look at exsisting artists and bands websites connotating and dennotating the features whch make it a success.

Link to The Saturdays website home page.

The first noticable feature on the page is the black background with golden leaves, symbolizing the season that we are currently in- autumn. This probably changes as the seasons do. The next noticable feature is the band name "The Saturdays" which is purposely written in white, contrasting from the background so that it stands out. 

Next to this (again in white so it stands out) are the hyperlinks to different pages about the band and its participants. These being:

Music - Consisting of single and album covers, enabling the audience to view the songs on each. There are also applications which will allow them to view videos and buy music/CDs.
Videos - Audiences are able to watch music videos, documentaries, performances and look at what the band has been up to.
News - Where audiences can find out about what the band has to offer as well as the promotion of new "news".
Gallery - Including backstage photographs, photographs of the girls on tour, paparazzi pics and photographs of the girls with tags to go with each picture.
The Girls - Biography of the band, news and diaries on what the girls have been up to and biographies of each girl with their own diaries and videos etc.
Calender - upcoming events for each month and extra info on events and tickets.
Forum - Discussions and info on the band- communications with others (fans etc)

The page is then split into three sections with a jotted line. In the left hand column is text displaying "Diary Spotlight| The Girls" which consists of news, events, realeases and general info on the band as a whole. Beneath this is a photograph of the band members which appears bright and vibrant contrasting to the background.  Although the girls are presented with casual made up hair, make up, heels and are simply posing on a bench, the photograph still comes across to the audience as 'Stylish and Glamourous', which is a definition of what the girls aspire to be.

The middle column is made up of what they have been up to other than promoting the band through music- here for example is a shoot for FHM symbolizing the different things they do.

The right hand column is simply a random video of one of girls' dog- showing their lives outside of the band. 

Above these columns are each of the band members names, which are hyperlinks to these columns but for each of the girls individually- including both professional and personal photographs, videos, questions and answers and their thoughts, opinions and ambitions. Each of the columns consists of a picture or video, when it was added/written, a bold title and an opening paragraph with a read more button underneath. This allows the audience to retrieve lots of information on the band and about each of the girls.

Underneath this is the "Latest News" with a picture, bold title, when it was added (date), a small paragraph and a read more button. Next to this is the "Shop" with a picture of the latest Album, bold text informing the audience of the album title, information about when the album is released, where to buy it and a play button.
Under this is an orange line with the pages listed beneath, the copyright license, how to contact the band and links to The Saturdays via networks such as feed, twitter, myspace, facebook and bebo.
The house colours are black white and orange, which successfully contrast, add edginess and symbolize the seasons as they come around.

As the specific stylistic genre of the Girlband is 'Pop' the webpage designer has taken this into consideration and carefully designed a webpage that matches this genre. The design/layout is very elegant and sophisticated and as the target audience is stereotypically aimed at 'Young Ladies' the designer has enforced the themes of fun, quirkiness and glamour- which is represented in the girls also. 

To conclude, it is clear that the webpage has been well designed and there is clear rivalry between the saturdays and other pop girl bands around such as Girls Aloud creating competition between the bands and music industries. By evaluating its strengths and weaknesses we will hopefully be able to incorporate some of its best elements into our own work as we are very fond of some of its features- some even match our first initial ideas.

Link to Alphabeat website home page.

The First noticable feature on this page is the colourful layout, there is lots of different colours symbolizing the creative flow within the band and the members. This is confirmed when looking closer at the background- it is a textured grey with cassette tapes and leaflets with silhuettes and teeth symbolising a scrapbook that portrays the creative and vintage theme behind the band.

At the very top of the page in the left hand corner is a music player of the bands songs along with an advertisment that is not to do with the band. Underneath this is the name of the band with its own branded style with the way its written. Again its in white to contrast from the background and the bright colours to stand out as it is the name of the band. Next to this is a moving promotion for the bands new album "The Spell."

Below this is a blue strip with black writing. This is the different pages you can click on, when on each page a pink colour emerges- this could be a piece of scrap paper allows the audience to know what page they are on. Each page looks as if it is a collection of sheets of paper. The pages include:
News - what month you want to catch up on, what date it was submitted, a title on what the new is is about, part of the story and a pink strip which is a link to the full story. Underneath is a strip where the audience/fans can read comments, leave comments, send to friends and share.
Blog - is set out the same way as news except it is all about the band, including a spoken widget promoting the band, videos and information on the band itself again fans are able to read more leave comments, read comments, send to a friend and share.
Gallery - Thumbnail images of the band from the new album and from fans.
Video - music videos, behind the scenes videos telling the audience what they are watching with a link back to the home page
Live - chart of gigs that they are playing and information on them.
Discography - Album and single designs personally to the band.
Store - (coming soon)
Members - Fans of the band login, fans contribute, get bonuses and win prizes also shows tops, members, photos and name like a polaroid.
Sign-up - to become a member of the band.

The over lapping of "sheets of paper" blue over the white create two sides of the page. To the left is moving photos of the band with flashing news titles that fans can click on and when they were posted, in green next to the flashing posts is the pages with the titles so the fans can click read and then read more . Next to this is the picture of the top member and login for members where they can also sign up. This is visable on every page of the site.

Under this is the latest blog posts and twitter. Fans can click the pink "more tweets" as a link to their twitter page. And watch the bands widget which consists of everything about the band in spoken videos, where to follow them and how to share the widget. Opposite this is alphabeat videos that start as soon as u open the homepage and because it is present on all pages it starts again on every page you click although, fans are able to click the video they want. This promotes the bands music, video, style and genre. Under this is another seperate advertisment.

At the bottom are popular pictures of the band and members that fans can click to enlarge and again comment on. At the very bottom of the page is how to follow the band with images for myspace, facebook, twitter, bebo and the danish Alphabeat site and who the site is made by. In small pink writing under this is the copyright, surfing and privacy links and terms and conditions. 

To conclude we feel that this website works well in context - conveying the young, innocent and naive style of the group which relates to the younger audience of today, knowing that their style can change as they mature. This is a positive aspect as they will always have a preferred audience. We feel that this website and context is the closest to the look, genre and style we want to create and we will be looking closely at this website when creating our own. 


Link to Take That website homepage.

The background on this page is again dark, black with the band symbol in the background. Over the top of this is in the top left hand corner is the bands name "Take That" written in the bands own style and silver colouring. In the right hand corner is a music player of the bands songs. The layout is much more calm and simple to show that the band is very different from the first two that I analysed.

Below this is the different pages such as:
News - There is a photo of one of the band this tym on an acrobatic swing, underneath to the left is the date, title and writing on upcoming events again with the familer photo from the homepage under this is comment boxes. To the right is the feed box and news events in chronological order; titles and introductory paragraphs on the news.
Tour - Photo from previous tour calender, upcoming tour dates and past tour dates to the right and to the left comment box.
Gallery - Photo of different member. To the right is a search bar where users can search by tag underneath is the different tags with links. To the left is where the tags pictures are shown in thumbnail size before being clicked on. underneath this is recent gallery items and under this is fan gallery with commentry to the right is the gallery archive.
Video - Again a photo of another band member on a circus swing. Below is a video player with links to watch a music video, behind the scenes, Live performances, TV appearence and podcasts.
The band - photo from homepage, biography on the band and then each of the members by clicking on their individual black and white photo and name.
Discography - Photo of band member again at the top. Below are photos of every CD and each song and its number on the CD. The CD title when it was realeased links to buy CD, buy album download, play the song or buy it.
Members - Homepage photograph, paragraph on becoming a member and a form to fill out to register. Once signed up members can use the login link.
Community - link leads to forum and discussion/chat room.
Store - leads to a link to the merchandise store for the band where everything is about take that.
One each of the pages the title of the page is in the bottom left hand corner of the picture at the top.

Underneath the different pages is a picture of the band walking on tight ropes but because the sky is behind them they could be electricity wires symbolising the bands album "The Circus" mixed with everday life. Below the theme of the sky, circus and life carries on. To the Left is news with a thumbnail picture of the larger picture with the date, title, start of text and a link to read more. In the middle is the album itself with a transparent banner over the top with the album name and when it is available. To the right is another picture of the sky this time with coloured balloons with a banner for pre-ordering Dvd and CD.

Below this is another picuture of the album, title and writing promoting the band and new album and to the right is a widget where fans can add their own notes and pictures that will appear on their homepage. The site is very well organised- using a box format and blue, black and silver house colours. One individual theme runs throughout the homepage.

To conclude this website portrays the generation of the band as it is simple but sophisticated, as Take That were teenage heart throbs of their time but are now the daddies of pop both in context and in reality. The website works well because of this but is not a layout we can use as we are creating and promoting a new, young band with new music.